This article is part of the Guardian’s World Cup 2014 Experts’ Network, a co-operation between 32 of the best media organisations from the countries who have qualified for the finals in Brazil. theguardian.com is running previews from four countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 12 June.

Igor Akinfeev

Russia’s and CSKA goalkeeper is known for his terrible music. The former Liverpool, Manchester United and Bayern target has never hesitated to admit that he’s a big fan of a band called “Ruki Vverkh” [Hands Up] which is mostly popular amongst schoolgirls. Once he even asked their lead singer to sing a song with him.

Dmitry Kombarov

He joined Spartak Moscow academy at the age of four with his twin brother Kirill but after some conflict with the coaches their parents took them to a rival academy at Dinamo. They spent nine years playing for youth and senior Dinamo teams but in 2010 joined Dinamo’s rivals … Spartak for $10m. Spartak only wanted Dmitry but he refused to go without his brother, so the club bought both.

Yuri Zhirkov

Probably the quietest, most modest player in the history of the Russian national team. He rarely talks to press and when he does he can’t always find the right words. Yet his wife is thought to be the most beautiful WAG (she won Mrs Russia 2012 contest) and also the least educated ... She failed to answer any of the simple questions on a TV show, including “Who wrote Shakespeare’s plays?”. After the show she gained popularity and increased Yuri’s as well.

Aleksander Kerzhakov

The only Russian striker who’s played in a top European league – he plays for Sevilla in La Liga – he inspired a new verb “to kerzhakov”, that was born during Euro 2012. He went 1,527 minutes without scoring during 2012-2013. That’s 1 day and 87 minutes.

Fabio Capello

The Italian has always been a big theatre lover. Even when he was England manager he always found time to visit Moscow for the Bolshoi. No wonder that now living in Moscow he now does so regularly. Also worth noting that his only Russian friend is a famous conductor, Valery Gergiev.